All Book Reviews
'I Think You鈥檙e Totally Wrong' pits a former student against his one-time writing professorIs it more important to write or to live? Caleb Powell and David Shields discuss but fail to fascinate.
'Born in the GDR' offers a more nuanced portrait of life in the former East GermanyHester Vaizey profiles eight residents of the former German Democratic Republic, revealing that many former GDR citizens have complicated feelings for their erstwhile country.
鈥楢lmost Nearly Perfect People鈥� reveals that 鈥� surprise! 鈥� Nordic nations aren鈥檛 quite nirvanalA British Journalist goes myth-hunting throughout Scandinavia
'In the Wolf's Mouth' is a beatifully written tragicomedy set in North Africa and Sicily during World War IIThe third novel of acclaimed novelist Adam Foulds follows the fortunes of characters who meet in a small Sicilian town.
'Top 10 Clues You're Clueless' echoes Nancy Drew, 'The Breakfast Club,' and Meg CabotSix teens are confined in a room. One of them stole $10,000. But who? The clock is ticking....
My New Year's resolution: read more John UpdikeHow about you? Is there an author you'd like to read, from start to finish, in 2015?
'Splitting an Order' offers poetry that outshines dark daysWisdom, compassion, and dignity continue to mark the poems of Ted Kooser.
'Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life' is a biography that includes a large element of the absurdFitzgerald was a late bloomer who turned her stoic middle-class background into the engine of unforgettable fiction.
'The Name of the Blade' is a tough, sassy m茅lange of Japanese folklore and modern teen BritainMio Yamato inherits her grandfather鈥檚 samurai sword 鈥� along with a mandate to battle evil.
'Blessed Assurance' succeeds as a soaring new biography of playwright Horton FooteHorton Foote's life and work were so closely intertwined, this biography demonstrates, that it's hard to know where Horton Foote, the man, ends and where Horton Foote, the writer, begins.
'Fourth of July Creek' is a gritty, disturbing, evocative, and extraordinary debut novelHenderson Smith鈥檚 tale of suffering and the hope of rescue in the northern West is on this critic鈥檚 short list of the year鈥檚 best fiction.
'When Books Went to War' tells how paperback books helped to win World War IIRecreational reading boosted morale and celebrated free thought for America鈥檚 World War II troops.
'The Greatest Knight' is the true story of a medieval knight, told with rich detailDrawing on a 13th-century manuscript, Thomas Asbridge has fashioned a rare and fascinating biography.
Too old to write a poem?Former US poet laureate Donald Hall, now 86, says the poetic muse has left him. But Mary Oliver, Ted Kooser, and others are going strong.
'Homegrown' explores domestic life with humorous and fantastically posed photosChildren are the stars in Julie Blackmon鈥檚 timeless, unsettling images.
'Red Ball of a Sun Slipping Down' is a brilliant retrospective of Eugene Richards鈥檚 Arkansas catalogEverything, nothing alters in decades of photos shot in the Arkansas Delta.
'Moriarty' is a Sherlock Holmes tale with no Holmes in sight'Moriarty' is far gorier than anything Arthur Conan Doyle ever penned.
'Arcady's Goal' is a beautiful story of soccer, love, and StalinEugene Yelchin, author of 'Breaking Stalin's Nose,' offers a wonderful companion novel for middle-grade readers.
'Ancient Trees': from Botswana to Yemen, some of the world's oldest treesA 14-year quest yields thoughtful, dignified portraits of ancient trees.
'Philip Larkin': A small, sad man who wrote great poetry?Booth's new biography of British poet Philip Larkin seems intended, in large part, as an exercise in rehabilitation.
